The Toronto Maple Leafs have not moved another member of their core group since the trade of Phil Kessel to Pittsburgh two weeks ago, but salary arbitration hearings later this month have the chance of creating a vacancy that could be filled by a veteran, such as Tyler Bozak.
CSN’s Chuck Gormley reportst that the Washington Capitals may have interest in the 29-year-old center depending on what happens in arbitration with RFA forward Marcus Johansson.
The Caps have nearly $11 Million in available cap space, but have starting goalie Braden Holtby and Johansson looking for a raise in pay.
Holtby could conceivably be awarded or sign a long term deal in excess of $6 Million and after scoring a career-high 20 goals last season,while the 24-year-old Swede could get close to $4 Million and would be an RFA next season and an unrestricted free agent in 2017.
If Johansson is awarded $3.8 Million or more, Washington can walk away from the arbitration decision. This happened under slightly different circumstances with Clarke MacArthur in 2010, when the Atlanta Thrashers walked away after arbitration and he signed with Toronto late in the summer.
The Capitals (depending on how much Holtby’s deal costs) may not want to pay Johansson close to $4 million in spite of his scoring a career-high 20 goals last season and could walk away from the forward and use the available cap space to make a move for Bozak, who hails from the same home town as head coach Barry Trotz.
Washington is deep and strong on the wings with superstar Alex Ovechkin, veterans Jason Chimera, Jay Beagle and Brooks Laich, the off-season additions of TJ Oshie and Justin Williams and the maturation of youngsters Andre Burakovsky and Tom Wilson. Johansson could be making nearly $4 Million playing on the third line.
Up the middle, Washington may be looking to bolster their depth with the offensively gifted Nicklas Backstrom and rookie Evgeny Kuznetsov taking up the top two lines.
Bozak offers the ability to win faceoffs, play both special teams and the cost certainty of three remaining years at $4.2 Million and allows the Leafs to move Nazem Kadri to the top line, Peter Holland and Shawn Matthias to the second and third lines and either Nick Spaling or Sam Carrick to the fourth line.
Gormley believes that the Caps probably would have to move a player like Laich, Chimera or Michael Latta to clear more room and that the Leafs would want a prospect such as Riley Barber or Connor Carrick included in the deal.
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Leafs 2015 second round pick Jeremy Bracco is nearing a decision on whether to honor his commitment with Boston College University or play next season in the Ontario Hockey League.
The 18-year-old’s OHL rights are held by the Kitchener Rangers and with the Leafs hierarchy having strong ties to the league, their preference may be for the highly skilled native of Long Island to hone his skills north of the border.
The small, speedy Bracco may consider staying in the NCAA with BC(it did wonders for Flames Calder Trophy nominee Johnny Gaudreau) but the Eagles have already endured a big loss to their program with defenseman and 2015 third overall pick Noah Hanifin signing a three-year entry-level deal with the Carolina Hurricanes this week.
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Zach Sill can now go back to antagonizing Dion Phaneuf for a living, as the unrestricted free agent winger has signed with the Washington Capitals on Wednesday.
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